CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A fire with flames 100 to 200 feet high erupted Friday at an oil well east of Cheyenne owned by SM Energy.

The fire at 1781 County Road 136 started in an oil treater containing 20 to 250 gallons of an oil and water mixture, Laramie County Fire District 2 spokesman Lew Simpson said. The treater overflowed and was ignited.

An oil treater removes sediment and water from crude oil before it is transported to refineries.

"It ignited, and it was threatening about 42,000 gallons of other oil fuel stored nearby," Simpson said. "We managed to control it — we shut off the fuel to the fire."

About 60 firefighters responded to the scene from several agencies, including six Laramie County fire districts, the Torrington Fire Department and F.E. Warren Air Force Base. Firefighters from the local Frontier Oil refinery also helped out.

The fire was extinguished in about an hour. No injuries were reported.

Natrona County Fire crews responded to a science experiment gone wrong this morning at Midwest High School. A small fire from a chemical reaction caused the incident that investigators describe as accidental. One student was treated and released with a chemical burn.

Natrona County Fire Investigator Dave Baker, says they got the call around 9am

“There was smoke in the hallway and in one of the class rooms. Upon interior examination they found an area in the chemistry lab where there as a small fire, but the fire had actually burned itself out.”

Baker says there was no structure damage and the fire was isolated to a counter top. He declined to release any more details about the chemicals involved until the investigation is complete, but he did say it was an experiment they’d done many times before without incident.

No explosion or chemical release accompanied the fire.

The incident occurred just after 9am.  First responders isolated the area and classes were sent home for the day.

GLENROCK, Wyo. (AP) More than 60 residents have evacuated their homes after a natural gas leak at an oil well being drilled into the Niobrara (NYE'-oh-BRER'-uh) formation in Wyoming.

Natural gas has been spewing into the air from the oil well since Tuesday. Witnesses told television station KCWY-TV that the roar of escaping gas could be heard six miles away.

The town of Douglas is not threatened, since it is about 10 miles northeast. Well operator Chesapeake Energy says air samples are normal but the company asked about 80 residents who live within 2.5 miles to voluntarily evacuate.

Chesapeake officials say they are working with contractors to bring the well under control.

CASPER, Wyo. — A Green River man was badly burned during an on-the-job explosion in Jamestown on Wednesday morning.
In a media release, Sweetwater County Sheriff Rich Haskell said witnesses at the oil field company shop in Jamestown where the mishap occurred told deputies that Larry Bingham, 48, was apparently using a cutting torch in proximity to a barrel marked “Methanol” when the explosion occurred.
Bingham ran from the shop, then drove himself to his residence in Green River, where deputies and emergency medical technicians found him.
He was taken to Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County in Rock Springs by ambulance, then flown to the Western States Burn Center in Greeley, Colo., with second-degree burns to both legs and a possible broken arm.

CHEYENNE -- Emergency operations ceased Monday night at the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation building when a department chemist deemed the explosive chemical discovered there to be stable and of no danger to the community at its current location.

An explosive ordnance disposal team and fire/hazardous material experts responded to the building at on West 22nd Street at 2 p.m. Monday when a gallon container of crystallized picric acid was discovered in the State Crime Lab. It was thought to be highly explosive, and several downtown buildings were evacuated.

GREEN RIVER, Wyo. (AP) ― A fire at the General Chemical Corp. mining facility in southwest Wyoming has interrupted part of its operations.

The fire was reported about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Plant manager Randy Pitts says the Green River Fire Department, with help from two other soda ash companies, extinguished the fire after about 90 minutes with no injuries reported.

Pitts said a portion of the facility's mining operations had been shut down until repairs can be completed.